8:01 PM Interesting statistical analysis by the college hoops blog Storming The Floor on the sons of famous basketball players. The apple falls a lot farther from the tree than most people probably realize.
7:41 PMChris Mortensen reports: "As I reported earlier on SC & MNCD, Big Ben is telling teammates and friends he's fine, will play vs. Ravens on Sunday night."
7:20 PM ESPN has announced college football's award finalists. One glaring omission: USC's Taylor Mays not a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award given annually to CFB's top defensive back.
Sports superstitions are strange things. Wade Boggs needed his chicken before every game. Pedro Cerrano only learned in the end he didn’t need Jobu’s help. The Eagles’ playoff beards make them all look like they’re homeless and/or registered sex offenders. My New York Rangers Stanley Cup hat has spooky powers. But these are all fairly unobtrusive methods.
One Charlotte-area woman has the least practical ritual since Raymond Babbitt had to watch “The People’s Court”: in order for the Panthers to win, she needs to watch the game bottomless. I know where I’ll be Saturday night, because somewhere in this grand country of ours, someone will be watching football without their pants, and it’s not a fat hairy dude in his boxers.
• The FLORIDA TIMES-UNION serves up news that Maria Sharapova is back in championship form, as she wins her first-ever title on clay.
And Maria’s prize - a lovely crystal 7-11 Big Gulp cup, good for one free refill.
• Speaking of a dirtier kind of Clay - with the Sonics having possibly played their last game in Key Arena, NOTTEN THIS LIFE looks to see where most Seattle fans fall in the Five Stages of Grief.
• Darren Rovell of CNBC has an idea who Derrick Rose’s NBA agent will be - and it’s not LeBron’s bud.
